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Sunday, 02 November 2008

Luang Prabang Salad - Nyam Salat

Yes, the Missus is missing some of the dishes She had in Luang Prabang already, especially the Luang Prabang Salad, a local specialty. The Missus could not have a lunch (and sometimes dinner) without it. One of the key ingredients of the salad is Phak Nam, the local watercress. The watercress that we were served in Luang Prabang was young and tender, looking almost like Kaiware, Daikon Sprouts. The flavor was very mild, faintly peppery, slightly bitter(they enjoy bitter flavors), with some sweet overtones. But what the Missus enjoyed most about the salad was the dressing, which seemed to have a European-Lao pedigree, that used both fish sauce and egg yolks, and as with many Lao recipes, was put together using a mortar and pestle.

Here's a photo of the Missus's favorite version of the salad:

From Soucham Restaurant, She had this salad 3 times during our stay in Luang Prabang.

Upon our return, the Missus was craving the salad. Fortunately, I purchased a little pamphelet called; Tamarind's Little Book of Salads during our visit to Tamarind Restaurant. Even though the little booklet is only 14 pages long one of the recipes included is for Luang Prabang Salad. I've taken several liberties with the recipe; replacing the lime juice with lemon juice, we were sure that the version the Missus enjoyed the best was made with lemon juice, I used a combination of palm sugar and granulated sugar, and we couldn't find a nice tender watercress, though Nijiya will carry something similar once in a while; so I used a combination of tender pea shoots and Romain lettuce hearts. It didn't turn out too bad.

I made the dressing a bit thicker than what is served in Luang Prabang, and will probably thin it out next time I make this; per the Missus' request.

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hi kurt,

I also like this salad. My folks make this salad all the time so I'm guessing they eat almost the same thing in southeast Asia. U know what's also good? Throw in some sauté onion. In a pan, add oil, then throw in some onion, stir until brown then top them off on the salad.

Hey Kirk, that sounds great - refreshing but substantial at the same time. Strangely enough Saveur Magazine had a blurb about Laos in this months issue http://www.saveur.com/food_new_recipes.jsp?issueID=200808. Anyways, seems like the combination of eggs, cucumber and tomato is classic in every culture!

I made a version of this last night to use up a bunch of leftover lettuce and chicken. I used a little coconut milk that I had leftover from curry last week. It was pretty good, but I think I made it too thin. Also, my mortar is too small and the dressing ended up being a little grainy.

I just read John Grisham's "A Painted House". One thing that struck me was their usual cucumber and tomato salad for dinner. It made me really hungry thinking about those maters and cukes coming right out of their garden.

Hi Jan - The dressing is fairly thin, but totally watery. I found that by not overcooking the boiled eggs will make the dressing less grainy...in addition to mashing it into a really good paste. I just wish I could get my hands on good Luang Prabang watercress!